


It's About Time

by s16350



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV) RPF
Genre: Feelings Realization, Fluff, M/M, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:40:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29679237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s16350/pseuds/s16350
Summary: ...Owen immediately felt pulled toward Charlie’s passion like a receding tide out to sea. They connected from their first meeting during auditions and cemented a lifelong friendship. He always knew it was something special. Always knew it meant more to him than anything.But love? Real, crazy, honest-to-goodness, I-wanna-be-with-you-and-no-one-else-or-I-might-die love? Owen had no idea how to handle a feeling like that.Or, Owen inadvertently tells Charlie how he feels.
Relationships: Charlie Gillespie/Owen Joyner, Charlie Gillespie/Owen Patrick Joyner
Comments: 11
Kudos: 23





	It's About Time

The realization hit Owen slowly, then all at once. The competing sensations swept over him like waves in a brewing storm. Owen couldn’t say for sure when it had happened, although he suspected if he thought about it hard enough he could trace the feelings all the way back to that sunny spring day he first met the guy. 

Owen Joyner was in love with Charlie Gillespie. 

_Shit._

That damn, curly-headed brunette. Two years older than he and full of more kindness and chaotic energy than anyone else he’d ever met. No stranger to causing some chaos himself, Owen immediately felt pulled toward Charlie’s passion like a receding tide out to sea. They connected from their first meeting during auditions and cemented a lifelong friendship. He always knew it was something special. Always knew it meant more to him than anything. 

But love? Real, crazy, honest-to-goodness, I-wanna-be-with-you-and-no-one-else-or-I-might-die love? Owen had no idea how to handle a feeling like that. 

How was he supposed to act around Charlie now? He’d notice if something was off with Owen the next time they FaceTimed, much less the next time they got to be together in person. The boy was perceptive, at least when it came to Owen’s moods. And when they went back to filming for season two? Working and living together, 24/7, for months on end, what then? 

He’d have to ignore it. Bury it. Deny these feelings until they faded or he convinced himself it wasn’t real. Owen could do that. He had to do that. Because nothing was worth losing this friendship over. 

Sighing a deep, shaking exhale, Owen flopped backward onto his bed and closed his eyes, groaning quietly. The buzzing in the back of his brain was growing louder; the racing thoughts beginning to crowd one another out until he no longer knew where to focus. His heart began to pound. Breathing grew shallow. Knowing he was minutes away from a full-blown panic attack, he grabbed his phone, eyes only half-focused, to shoot off a text to one of his closest hometown friends. Owen HAD to get it out before it consumed him. Maybe just saying the words to someone who wouldn’t judge him and would never tell another soul would help anchor him: keep his head above the waves threatening to pull him under. Put the words out there and then move on. His fingers tapped frantically before he could change his mind, his brain already three steps ahead of his hands as he tried to concentrate. 

_Owen: Sorry to just drop this on you out of nowhere but I’ve got to get it out before I explode. I just realized that I maybe... actually really like Charlie. Like-like him. I mean not maybe. I do. This is crazy. I have no idea when this happened or what to do and I’m kind of freaking out and needed to tell someone._

He waited a minute; no response. Black dots crowded his eyes as he struggled to breathe and focus his sight on the screen. The storm encroached. 

_Owen: Help. It’s like it came out of nowhere. He’s just so... Charlie. You’ve met him you get it right? I don’t wanna mess up our friendship so obviously he can never know. I don’t know what to do._

Owen dropped his phone onto his stomach, running shaking hands through his long silky tresses as he felt relief flowing through him. _I need a haircut,_ he thought idly. He latched his fingers onto the edge of the pillow behind him, pulling in a few deep breaths to slow his heart rate. He knew the drill. Knew this would pass. Felt his head bobbing up a little higher, the waves not quite so overwhelming now. He could do this. Owen would smile and laugh and joke like he always did the next time he was with Charlie. He’d wrestle the older boy and playfully mock him for any number of his strange habits and “unique” choices. He’d let Charlie jump on his back and drape an arm around his shoulder or grab his hand. The blonde wouldn’t let it tear him up inside - he couldn't. He’d resign himself to a life of secret, unrequited love until it one day waned to a distant memory. His breathing began to even out. The storm began to dissipate. 

His phone vibrated a couple times in quick succession on his stomach, causing him to jump slightly. He lifted it, wondering what his friends’ reaction would be. He read the words on his screen. Owen jolted upright and stopped breathing as panic set in. Read them again, his body moving on autopilot as he woodenly swung his legs around to hang off the side of the bed. Read them yet again, struggling to comprehend. The waves were back, but as understanding dawned on Owen, the ocean surrounding him was no longer something to fear but to embrace: something that whispered at once promises of both safety and comfort, of fun and adventure. Of love. 

_Charlie: Ok pretty sure you didn’t mean to send this to me but please don’t freak out Owen please because IT’S ABOUT. FUCKIN. TIME._

_Charlie: Shit Owen I’ve been into you since pretty much the day we MET I thought you figured me out at some point and just never said anything because you saw me as a friend._

_Charlie: I know you’re spiraling right now. Stop it and FaceTime me. Oh my god this is insane I’ve liked you for so long and you kind of just told me you like me too. Come onnn._

A smile danced on the edge of Owen’s mouth. He absentmindedly slid his necklace into his mouth and chewed as he read the words from Charlie one more time. His phone vibrated in his palm. 

_Charlie: You’ve got 60 more seconds to get your ass in gear before I give in and call you._

The smile swept across his face and broke into a full on, face-cracking grin. Was this real life? Owen dropped his phone and slid from the edge of the bed onto the floor, where Bindi lay contentedly sprawled in a streak of sunlight from his window. Warmth spread from the top of his head to the tips of his toes; the sunshine breaking out from behind the clouds and warming the water surrounding him. He was floating. 

_Charlie._

Owen grabbed his phone, took a deep breath, and called.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick idea I had to get down of Owen realizing he was falling for Charlie (among too many ocean metaphors). Also, writing text conversations is hard.
> 
> *No disrespect meant to the real people in this work of fiction*


End file.
